05/04/2014

Pericles

Bell Shakespeare, 2009

Photo by Wendy McDougall for Bell Shakespeare.

Wearing its
collaboration with percussion group TaikOz on its sleeve, John Bell’s
production of Pericles was a whirl of
colour and rhythm, full of the ebb and flow or the ocean, bound within a dream
of a Japanese fable. From old Gower’s couplet-rhymed prologue and interludes to
the raucous and unsettling humour of the brothel scene, to its
wonder-upon-wonder conclusion, Julie Lynch’s costumes and set were drenched
with an oceanic aesthetic, crowned by the haunting shipwreck scene. If memory
serves, this was the first Bell Shakespeare production I saw and still that
shipwreck haunts me. It was so simple, so poetic, so visually compelling and
clever that you couldn’t help but watch in awe. And while I might not remember
much else of the production, I have no doubt the image of Marcus Graham’s
Pericles drowning will stay with me for a long time yet.